LeBron James entered the league with the highest of expectations – he joined the league the year Michael Jordan finally retired.
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At the age of 17, the world wanted to see if LeBron James could meet the expectations set by Michael Jordan. That is the level he had to work with, despite being only a high school teenager. Even with all of that, he was unfazed and put all of that pressure on his broad shoulders.
In his 4 years of high school, LeBron just lost 6 games, 5 coming in the last two years. His first year of high school saw him win a state title and averaged 21 points and 6.5 assists. That was not the peak of his powers though, because in his sophomore year he averaged 29.2 points and 8.3 rebounds while getting selected to the USA Today All-USA First Team.
His junior year was his peak, scoring an incredible 30 points, and took a small school like St. Vincent Mary’s to superstardom. Bron was heralded as one of the best high school athletes ever, who at such a young age got many people to look forward to his professional debut.
LeBron James vs Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan on the other hand was still a great basketball player in high school, but he did not excite people as LeBron did. However, when he started playing for UNC, he was getting good, real fast. He still wasn’t at LeBron’s level, averaging a meager 17 points and 5 rebounds.
A stark downgrade to King James’s extraordinary stats despite being a few years older. Much of that could be attributed to college-level basketball being grossly underscoring – 17 points could roughly translate to 25 a game in the real world. But with his last-minute game-winner against Patrick Ewing, he became a household name.
As good as he was, there were better players than MJ at the college level. Pistol Pete, Larry Bird, and even Patrick Beverley have averaged more than the Black Jesus, but we all know who stands at the pinnacle of basketball as a sport now.
6 champions 36 shoes and a legendary status later – Jordan is virtually untouchable to most.
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The comparisons are endless – but each player has a die-hard fanbase
LeBron stans and Jordan stans wage their daily wars as to who is the better player overall. Not a day goes by where both fans stay calm, – they are always at each other’s throats. Even after the King admitted himself to be a fan of Jordan, fans of the Chicago Bull man want to put him down.
The battle for supremacy never existed – it was always a fan-created event. Yes, every athlete is competitive – more so if their names are Jordan and James, but that doesn’t make them arch enemies.
Fans won’t get to see James play for a long since he doesn’t have too many years left. A narrative that began almost 20 years ago is slowly but surely coming to an end – a fitting end to a legendary career.
